Why Believe? (Part 1)

I met my Canadian friend John while playing online chess.  I have a number of games going — and I lose most of them — but it’s a great way to meet new people.  Occasionally, I get to share a bit of the Good News about Jesus with them.

This is not John’s picture to the right.  But he is a gentleman in his 80’s and comments regularly on my blog.  (You can read his comments if you wish — they are found at the end of several of my blog posts).

John argues against the Christian idea of God, what the Bible has to say about salvation, and, essentially, why we should be religious at all.

Recently John wrote: “In your first reply you stated that we are all sinners and therefore we need a Savior. This has been said so often by so many people nobody seems to question this any more. Is this not also along the line of selfishly trying to make our guilt to be carried by someone else? Shouldn’t we rather be thought that our actions (sins ??) are our own and take responsibility for them, regardless of possible punishments ? Wouldn’t you agree that humanity would be better off with this kind of thinking?”

How would you answer John?  (I’ll post my response in a few days).